It is known to provide a motor vehicle with an indicator which shows the gear or drive speed that the vehicle transmission, whether automatic or manual, is set for. This indicator simply furnishes the driver with a display of this information that is typically only referred to when the speed gear or drive speed is to be obtained. In a manual transmission, where the system is rarer, it indicates the gear-speed number, normally 1 through 4 or 5 and R for reverse, and in an automatic transmission the readout indicates D for standard forward drive, R for reverse, and D.sub.1 and D.sub.2 or L for low forward drive speed. Such an arrangement is described in German Pat. No. 2,646,393.
It is not unknown for a vehicle to slip out of gear while, for instance, riding down a hill. The result is a substantial gain in speed which the driver will not normally notice immediately since he or she is doing nothing to accelerate and is presuming standard engine braking will maintain speed constant. This can happen when a clutch or transmission component fails or when the gear shift is accidentally knocked into the neutral position. The result is an extremely dangerous circumstance since not only can the vehicle assume a speed it is difficult to slow it down from, but the benefits of engine braking are lost and the wheel brakes alone must be relied on.